Ḥadd
حدDefinition
Prescribed punishment — the fixed penalties ordained in Islamic law for specific grave violations including theft, slander, and certain forms of illicit intimacy. The hadd punishments are among the defining markers al-Dhahabi uses to classify a sin as major: if the Lawgiver prescribed a fixed worldly penalty for it, this signals its exceptional gravity. Al-Dhahabi notes that the hadd punishments serve multiple functions simultaneously — deterrence, purification of the one who committed the sin if applied, and the protection of the community from the spread of the violation. Their severity reflects the severity of what they protect: life, honour, family, intellect, and property.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Dhahabī and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Ḥadd.
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"Al-Shafi'i, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "If the Hanafi drinks nabidh, I apply the hadd on him but do not reject his testimony," thereby considering it a major sin by prescribing the hadd, yet did not reject his testimony because of it. It shows that testimony, affirmatively or negatively, does not revolve solely around minor and major sins, but every sin affects integrity except what one cannot escape, often of necessity due to customs, like backbiting, spying, harboring bad thoughts, lying in certain sayings, listening to backbiting,"
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 31: The Book of Repentance
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"since forgiveness for pure divine rights is attainable for repentant and remorseful individuals. If brought before an authority who enforces the hadd, their repentance is then deemed valid and accepted by Allah, as evidenced by the account of Ma'iz ibn Malik, who came to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and pleaded for purification from his sin of adultery."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 31: The Book of Repentance
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"drinking, theft, or banditry, as one need not publicly confess or seek enforcement of Allah’s rights by an authority. Instead, they should keep Allah’s concealment upon them and enforce the hadd upon themselves through spiritual struggle and penance, since forgiveness for pure divine rights is attainable for repentant and remorseful individuals."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 31: The Book of Repentance
Appears in
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